


Unmarked

by Arabesqueangel



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: (except for the end), (mostly), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Canon Divergence - Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 Compliant, Loki (Marvel) Feels, M/M, POV Tony Stark, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Thor: The Dark World Compliant, Tony Stark Has Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-05-31 12:54:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19426414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arabesqueangel/pseuds/Arabesqueangel
Summary: Tony's figured out Loki's plan, he's opening the portal right above Tony's own tower in a diva move of epic proportions. Tony probably takes it a bit too personal, and now here he is confronting the God of Mischief in nothing but his Black Sabbath t-shirt and jeans. One dick joke is all that stands between Tony remaining comfortably in his tower and being thrown out the window. Except, instead, Loki just drops him in order to clutch at his chest, right about where a soulmark would form.It's a good trick, real top-notch acting, but if there's one thing that Tony knows it's that he doesn't have a soulmate.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So remember how I wasn't going to start posting any other fics so I could concentrate on Son of Chaos... well that's boring. This little guy has been rolling around in my docs for a while now. It's almost done, it may be 8 to 10 chapters or so, but I just know if I start posting I'll get the motivation to finish. 
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy some soulmate angst! 
> 
> Thank you so much to Switchknitter for looking through this and helping me with content and motivation! You're the best! <3

“How will your friends have time for me, when they’re so busy fighting you?” 

The threatening, and yes, stalling, was going so well up until now. Tony had just been taking a pointedly casual sip of his scotch and now the alien is stalking toward him predatorily. All the bravado of their previous conversation is gone, replaced with seething rage. Oh shit. 

The staff in Loki’s hand glows, whirring with a faint noise that seems to indicate it is charging up for...something. Hopefully not mind control, is all Tony has time to think before it taps lightly on the arc reactor; the energy, that he is only going to call magic until he figures it out, dissipates on contact. Loki’s sneer fades into confusion as he tries again. Second verse, same as the first. 

“This usually works.” 

Yeah, Tony totally makes a dick joke. “Well performance issues. It’s not uncommon. One out of five--” 

As Tony speaks, he wonders if Loki even gets it. The aliens speak English, but how well does this kind of stuff translate? Of course, that thought is interrupted by Loki’s hand around his throat tossing him to the floor, so yeah, Tony’s pretty sure he got the point. 

“Jarvis? Anytime now.” Tony grunts as he picks himself up as quickly as he is able. Looks like the stalling portion of their encounter is done and now they're on to full on combat, for which, he really needs the damn suit. He barely managed to lurch to his feet before that hand is around his throat again, this time a sustained grab, pulling him off the ground. 

“You will all...fall...?” The sentence that had started filled with rage trailed off into confusion. The god drops him back to the ground and takes a few shaky steps away from him. Wincing, Loki presses his hand to his chest. No, not just that, he presses his hand to a very specific part of his chest, the center of it actually. The very spot where a mark would appear when you had made uninterrupted contact with your soulmate for more than a few brief seconds. 

After a moment, Loki looks up again at Tony. The wince is gone; the burn is supposed to be pretty strong but fades quickly. So now Loki just looks... well, he looks completely different actually. There is this soft look of awe on his face that is completely disparate with his earlier looks of rage and irritating superiority. His eyes, the ones staring right into Tony’s, are intense and yet so much saner, and—wait, since when are they green? Normally, Tony would chalk this up to a lack of attention or not getting a good look, but Tony had been pretty intently analyzing Loki’s mental state, he had gotten a good look at those baby blues. 

Video of Loki’s attack at the SHIELD base springs to mind. Loki touching Agent Barton with the staff and the guy’s eyes glazing over, turning an icy blue. Loki’s eyes hadn’t been quite the same shade, but there was undeniably a connection. Unless, of course, this is all just what Loki  _ wants _ him to believe. And that? That makes it fucking personal. Tony knew this guy was evil, but to play on Tony’s weakness like that? It’s just plain cruel.

“Yeah, sorry, not buying it.” Tony almost laughs. The nerve of this guy! Like Tony would just drop everything, would forget all those deaths at the alien’s hands, particularly Coulson’s? Not going to happen. 

“What? How?” A flurry of emotions flies over Loki’s face. Confusion, frustration, anger, hurt, Tony can’t quite peg them all, but he seems to settle on confusion. Then those green eyes land on the blue glow that just barely shines through Tony’s shirt. Loki’s on his feet again in an instant, walking towards Tony with terrifying speed. Tony tries to pull back, but he can’t get to his feet quickly enough. Instead of going for his throat, which is so five minutes ago, Loki instead rips his shirt in two. 

“Hey, that was one of my favorites,” Tony whines ineffectually. 

The alien’s breath catches as he gets a good look at the arc reactor. It isn’t a particularly pretty sight, beyond being all glowy. The faint scars trailing around the edges, the metal embedded directly into the skin, the pucker and skin growth around it, is all particularly jarring. Loki slumps then, looking truly defeated, no fighting necessary. Tony could almost believe it, if he wasn’t aware that he is currently dealing with the God of Lies. 

“Nice try. It’s a good move, really. Pretend a soul bond with possibly the only guy on the planet who couldn’t easily disprove you.” Tony’s words are casual, but the feeling behind him is anything but. Loki’s ripping the bandaid off of a barely closed over wound and Tony is just so damn tired of bleeding. 

Tony shrugs the alien off, backing away until he has a mostly comfortable distance. Loki lets him, just sitting on the ground looking lost and hurt. As it turns out, Loki can do puppy dog just as well as smug, and Tony irrationally wants to comfort him. Fortunately, he’s got his own bitterness to focus on instead. 

This is all just another facet of Loki brilliantly hitting him where it hurts most; first Coulson and now this. Tony had been able to pretend he had accepted that he didn’t have a soulmate. Well, that wasn’t exactly a certain truth. But really, if soulmates were a whole fate thing and Tony was pulled apart and had this thing shoved into his chest right where the soulmark was supposed to go, so that he would never see one, never feel one forming, how could he  _ not _ deduce that it clearly just wasn't meant to be? That’s how fate worked right? He couldn’t have the mark therefore he shouldn’t have the mate. But there was just enough doubt in that hypothesis for Loki to feed on. What Tony can’t quite rationalize is why? What’s the angle? Beyond kicking Tony in the balls, that is. 

Before Tony can ponder that for too long there's a low hum and a wave of force blows over them. Both Loki and Tony turn to see a bright blue beam pierce the sky, ripping a black hole through the blue. Tony can already see dark specks flowing out of the portal, the Chitauri Thor had mentioned descending on the city. 

“Who’s stalling now?” Tony growls, standing up. “Jarvis, Deploy!” 

Using the tracking chips in the bracelets, the Mark VII is launched and immediately pinpoints Tony to open up and form around him. As soon as he’s fully encased, Tony heads for the patio. 

“Stark, wait!” Loki calls to him, but Tony doesn’t even look back. He fires a repulsor blindly behind him and smirks when he hears the thump of Loki falling to the ground. 

When Tony gets out to the patio, he searches the sky for his backup. Seriously? Did they stop for drive-thru? He’s about to take off and start taking on the bad guys all on his lonesome, but he’s hesitant to just leave Loki here to do who knows what badness? Fortunately, a flash of red in the sky indicates that Thor is heading straight for them. 

“Stark, we’re on your three headed northeast.” 

“Took you long enough. Giant hole in the sky, can’t miss it. Kill anything that comes through.” 

Tony fires on the aliens as they get close enough to the tower. Once he could see the quinjet in range to start firing, he then turns his concentration back to the mastermind. Thor, of course, picks precisely that moment to arrive and start things up again before Tony can really get down to the bottom of all this weirdness. 

“Loki, turn off the Tesseract or I’ll destroy it.” Thor commands. 

Loki had been looking up at the portal the Tesseract opened with as much shock and awe as Tony, and a good bit more fear. Thor’s words shook him out of his daze, and he turned to his erstwhile brother. 

“Thor? I...” Loki starts, looking nothing more than confused. 

Tony scoffs, he’s so over this guy’s overacting. “Just destroy it, Thor. He’s playing some angle, trying to keep us from fighting him.” 

Thor scowls, but takes Tony’s lead and walks over to the portal device, holding Mjolnir overhead. 

“No! Wait!” Loki shouts, grabbing his scepter and running over to them. 

“See? Do it, Thor!” Tony orders. He knows the kind of damage that hammer can do, if anything can stop the device, it’s that. 

Thor rears back for a huge swing with all his weight behind it. There’s an energy field around the device, blue like the light from the Tesseract. As soon as Thor’s hammer hits it, Thor is blown back by a huge energy blast. 

“Never listens,” Loki mutters as he steps over his unconscious brother and over to the device. 

“Yeah, happens when you’re evil.” Tony responds, holding his hand up, repulsor at the ready. 

Loki shoots him an unreadable look before ignoring him completely. He stabs toward the field with the scepter, so Tony fires. Apparently, Loki was expecting that, because his repulsor is stopped by a green-gold field between them. Before Tony can try a new tack, Loki has stuck the scepter in past the field that had stopped Thor’s hammer and stabbed at the Tesseract. Instantly, the blue beam rising up to the portal falters and the black hole starts to close. 

Tony’s attention is on Loki, however, as he tosses the staff away from him as if it burned his hands and collapses on the ground, breathing heavily. 

“Does that earn me...” Loki gasps for air. “...at least a conversation, Stark?” 

Tony’s never been happier that he has a mask hiding his expression. Surprised just doesn’t cut it. What the fuck just happened? 

“Yeah, sure,” Tony manages finally. “I guess I can keep you company while SHIELD figures out what to do with you.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to build up a bigger buffer on Son of Chaos before I post chapters. We're getting in to the last portion, with maybe ten chapters at most left and I want to make sure that the writing is as good as I think the plot is because damn I am so excited for this.
> 
> However, this little guy I've been working on for months off and on and I'll likely be done today so here's more! 
> 
> Also, I'm ridiculously pleased about the reception of the first chapter. I don't think anything I have ever written has gotten so many kudos so fast! A lot of the comments looked to be from people who, if not actually new to my work, haven't commented much or ever so if you're reading one of my works for the first time, welcome! Thank you so much for being here! Now enjoy some angst...

~~~~

Loki never gets his conversation. As soon as the portal closed, the remaining aliens just dropped dead. Tony’s best guess is a hive mind type scenario, but he can’t be sure, and he definitely is not the kind of scientist to find out. Once the danger had passed, Thor immediately pulled out a pair of cuffs with some weird symbols on them, connected by a long chain. Then he clasped an actual muzzle around Loki’s mouth. He said it was to control his magic and couldn’t come off until they left for Asgard. Loki struggled, looking over at Tony with wide pleading eyes that made Tony’s stomach wriggle uncomfortably, but Tony didn’t say anything. 

Tony continues to keep his mouth shut later at the debriefing. Unfortunately, keeping his mouth shut isn’t exactly what Tony Stark is known for, so it draws Fury’s attention immediately. 

“Nothing to add Stark? No demand to study the Tesseract? No complaint at giving up the prisoner?” Fury asks, startling Tony out of his daze. 

“What? Uh... no? I mean. If this is the shit we have to put up with if the Tesseract is here on Earth, I don’t think it’s worth it. Seriously, this could have been a lot worse.” Which was part of the issue. Why had Loki just stopped it? After all that? There hadn’t been a single death, at least not by the Chitari; there were lots of injuries, even a few hospitalizations, but the aliens hadn’t had time to do much more than shoot at a few cars and buildings. “That being said, Loki killed quite a few people, but honestly, do you think we’re equipped to handle him? I mean, I’m going to get right on figuring out this magic shit. I’ll probably have it on lock in a few weeks, but what would we do with him until then? And why go through all that bother and expense if Thor’s going to take care of it for us?” 

Fury raises an eyebrow. That obviously hadn’t been the response he was anticipating. “I wasn’t expecting Stark to ever agree with me.” 

“Don’t count on it in the future.” Tony adds, just to be contrary. 

“So how long before we get this asshole off our planet?” Fury asks Thor. 

Steve winces, likely due to the strong language. Which, of course, makes Tony want to inject any possible vulgarity into his next sentence. Sure, they’d probably come to an understanding and Tony could maybe see working with the guy without them being at each other’s throats 24/7, but he was still him after all. 

Thor, too, didn’t seem to like the terminology. “If Stark and Banner can spare the time to assist, I have a device that we believe will allow me to use the Tesseract to safely get us back to Asgard.” 

“Sure, thing big guy! Bruce’s got to fulfil his promise to check out my lab anyway.” 

“I do? I did?” Banner asks, perplexed. Tony just smiles at him and Banner rolls his eyes. Yeah, a new science bro is totally within his reach, Tony can just feel it. 

They call the meeting and Tony brings Thor and Bruce to his tower and they set themselves up in the lab. 

“So...” Tony starts, wondering just how awkward of a conversation this is going to be. “Once you get your brother back to Godland, he’s going to have a trial of some sort, right? You’ll figure everything out?” 

“Yes, once we’re able to get Loki in his cell, it will do the job of blocking his magic and we’ll able to find out how he was able to summon the Chitauri, how he learned how to use the Tesseract.” Thor explains. 

“Actually, I was a little less curious about the how and more about the why. Like why did he stop? Why did his eyes change color? Why does he suddenly seem completely different?” Tony corrects, trying to keep the annoyance from his voice. 

Thor just looks at Tony like he is an idiot. Which, considering the source, Tony isn’t overly fond. “He stopped because I told him I would destroy the Tesseract. He’s different because he realized he lost; he’s subdued because there’s no point in fighting. I’m not sure what you mean about his eyes, they’ve always been green; they were never the color that Selvig’s were when he was taken over by the staff.” 

That is all annoyingly logical, yet Tony can’t help but think that Thor is missing the point. Then again, Thor isn’t aware of the biggest question on Tony’s mind. Should he share the whole soulbond issue? Thor should be able to confirm if Loki had a soulmark before. But Loki had been missing for a year, anything could have happened, including finding some other soulmate that wasn’t Tony. It wouldn’t be proof and, if anything, it would just confuse the issue. 

Generally, separating soulmates is considered tantamount to torture. Scientists had confirmed there was some low-level psychic connection between those that had soulbonded. It isn’t anything as dramatic as mind-reading. More like they could get impressions of strong emotions from their partner or maybe predict how they would react or respond to certain situations. And even then, it wasn’t all the time or even everyone who soulbonded. Really, the whole thing is far too unpredictable and unscientific for Tony’s taste, but nonetheless, there had been enough studies done to confirm that separating soulbonded is a bad idea. It won’t kill them or anything, but it had long-term emotional and psychological effects that could be catastrophic. Tony can’t risk that Loki won’t get his due punishment just because he claims a soulbond with Tony. That could have been the bastard’s plan all along. 

But what if he's telling the truth? The thought that Tony really doesn’t want to actively consider rears its ugly head. It could be just as bad for Tony as it was for Loki at that point. But if Tony hadn’t felt the bond, didn’t have the mark, could he have the psychological aspects? It seemed unlikely, but who knew? There were too many unknowns and Tony just didn’t trust either Thor or Bruce well enough to share. Not to mention, Tony really didn’t want to open up that can of worms that was hope for a soulmate once again, even if it was Loki.

The men in question were looking at Tony curiously at this point and he realized that he’d probably been silent and contemplative for a suspicious amount of time. 

“Yeah, that makes sense. I’d still be curious to hear what you learn. Especially if the Chitauri are something we have to worry about retaliating.” Tony says finally. 

“Rest assured, Stark. I will be returning more frequently once the bifrost has been repaired. It’s almost done so I should be able to bring you news as soon as I have it.” Thor promises, placing a meaty hand on Tony’s shoulder. 

Tony wished he felt reassured. 

It only took them a day to work the device that would basically teleport Thor and Loki back to Asgard. It took some time to find out where and when they needed to activate said device though; it was heavily influenced by the positioning of the planets and sun. Now, they were all gathered to bid the gods adieu. 

Tony had been nervous about the spectacle Loki would cause seeing him again. There would be no hiding him causing a tantrum in front of everyone specifically over Tony. As it turned out, Tony needed have worried. Loki looks absolutely furious when Thor drags him out of the SHIELD van. If looks could kill everyone in Central Park would be dead. When Loki catches sight of him, Tony holds his breath, wondering what the alien is going to do that will play into his elaborate scheme. But Loki immediately looks away again. To anyone not actively trying to catch every possible movement, Loki wouldn’t have appeared to give Tony any extra attention at all. Tony himself feels like he is just imagining that slight slump to that shoulders, that slight lessening of the ire in his eyes to something more defeated. 

Guilt wells up in Tony again. He hadn’t even tried to talk to Loki, just taking Thor’s muzzle comment in stride. Loki stopped everything just for the promise of a conversation with Tony and he couldn’t even be bothered. But no, the despair is just for a plan that failed. It was a good one, Tony can admit that. It had every chance to work if Tony had been just a bit more gullible, a bit more trusting, a bit more willing to believe that he wasn’t too screwed up for there to be one perfect person for him. 

They had said their goodbyes, so once he and Loki were in place, Thor just nods at everyone and just like that, they’re gone. Tony grins. He’s visibly relieved that the menace has now been taken care of. Bruce has a bag to drop in the backseat of the car and then they’re off to Tony’s tower. It should be like the end of Casablanca. They’re riding off to the sunset. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. All that jazz. They’ll figure out the whole Avengers thing later. Thor will eventually be back with news that they may have to act upon, but for now, everything is awesome. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note to self: "Thor is not stupid" tag definitely does not apply here.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, now we're getting into the meat of it : D

Tony manages to hang on to that awesome feeling for several days. He throws himself deep into a science binge, studying the Chitari tech that he managed to ‘requisition’ from SHIELD; he goes so deep that any thoughts of Loki or soulmates or anything that isn’t the project in front of him are effectively wiped away. But eventually, even geniuses must pause their brains and Tony falls into a reluctant, restless sleep. 

He’s in one of those dreams where he immediately knows he’s dreaming, though he isn’t sure why. There’s nothing inherently dreamlike about how he’s pouring himself a glass of scotch alone in the half light. Really, it could be any night since Pepper left. Tony sighs and, even knowing that it won't actually do anything, takes a drink. 

“Have you come to appeal to my humanity?” 

Tony startles at the familiar drawl. Looking up from where he had been investigating the flecks in the stone of the bar. It’s a total déjà vu moment, right up until he takes in his adversary. Loki isn’t cockily smirking at him resplendent in that odd asymmetrical Asgardian armor. He’s frowning uncertainly and dressed in a long green tunic and soft black pants. His hair isn’t slicked back even, but loose and slightly wavy around his ears. He reminds Tony of a wet cat, looking pathetic and shrunk compared to his former glory. 

“Actually, I’m here to threaten you.” Tony responds automatically as if his lips can move without his permission. 

“Consider me suitably cowed.” Loki says despondently. He walks over to the couch set in the sunken circle and falls into it as if he just used up all the energy he had left. 

“That’s not how this is supposed to go.” Tony says before shrugging, topping off his glass and walking over to join Loki. Fuck it, if this is a dream he might as well play along. 

“Nothing ever goes how it’s supposed to.” Loki says bitterly. He regards Tony for a moment as he sits down. “Do I no longer merit a drink invitation?” 

“It wouldn’t help anyways; I mean, I don’t even know why I’m bothering since this is a dream.” 

Loki gives him an enigmatic look. The guy is just full of indiscernible expressions, and it is just one of the many annoying facts about him. But as he does, his posture changes. He tries to make it look natural, just some slight shifting, but all of a sudden he’s less hunched, more stretched out and outwardly comfortable. It’s an interesting change, but Tony still doesn’t know what it means. 

“What? You’re not going to say something smooth like ‘Oh, do you dream of me, Stark?’” He’d been all kinds of low purring voice and slick words before. 

“That was not what came to mind, no.” Loki says easily and there’s just a hint of a smile on his lips. 

And that was just... weird. Generally, dream people didn’t take accusations of being dream people well. 

“So, you aren’t going to argue with me about this not being a dream.” 

“I’m more preoccupied with the fact that  _ you _ are telling  _ me _ it is a dream. That was... unexpected.” Loki looks down at his hands as if thinking, the cockiness dropped for just a second. 

Oh, fuck no. This was not happening. 

“What are you trying to say? Or not to say?” Tony asked hotly. 

“What does it matter? It’s not as if you’ll believe me.” Loki tosses back. 

“You want me to think this is some kind of soulmate dream share thing.” Tony accuses, because yeah, that is totally a thing, actually. 

“Believe it or not, Stark. I want nothing of the sort. What I wanted was some kind of respite from contemplating my trial tomorrow. What I got was you.” Loki snarls. 

“Sure, a likely story. Or, simpler explanation, you’re somehow using some of your mind mojo all the way from godland to try to keep up this ridiculous ruse.” 

“That ‘mind mojo’ as you call it wasn’t me. That was the Mind Stone. I have nowhere near that kind of power. Especially imprisoned as I am.” 

“See, that’s the problem with being the God of Lies, only a moron would take you at your word.” Tony shoots back, hoping to work up Loki’s temper further. He could use a good battle to get out all this rage and emptiness. 

But Loki doesn’t look angry, he just looks thoughtful. 

“You’re right,” He says finally, a kind of dead quality to his voice. He must hear the wrongness of it because he clears his throat a bit before turning back to smirk at Tony. “There’s really no point in telling the truth, is there? Odin will never believe me. No one would” 

“You can’t possibly think that there’s an excuse for what you did.” Tony sputtered; then again, blue eyes come to mind. 

That lights a fire in Loki’s now-green eyes. “What I did was stop the Chitauri from invading and devastating your planet. I stopped as soon as I realized what...” Loki trails off, biting his tongue against whatever he was going to say. 

“Well that just wasn’t good enough, was it?” Tony yells back. There are still dead people, devastation. Bloodied trading cards swim before Tony’s eyes. All for a grudge match with his big brother. 

“No; I never am,” Loki says dully and swallows. “Leave me be, Stark.” 

“Hey, this is your grave you dug, now you get to lie in it. You can’t ask for better justice than that.” 

“Grave,” Loki laughs bitterly, the smirk coming back. “Apt verbiage.” 

Was Loki really saying...? Tony didn’t believe that Loki’s own father could possibly... 

“You... you’re saying that is on the table? At your trial tomorrow?” Tony asks hesitantly. 

“Oh, of course it is. I’ve caused a lot of problems; I’ve embarrassed the family, the throne. It’s also the standard punishment for treason.” 

“Thor would just let them kill...” 

“Execute,” Loki corrected. “When it’s justice, they call it execution.” 

The smirk, the loose body language, the light tone is just so incongruent with what they are talking about that Tony feels almost dizzy. He just has to deflect. 

“All the more reason for you to keep up this ruse of pretending to be my soulmate.” Tony manages finally. Yes, that’s it; Tony needed to concentrate on that. On the utter depravity of a person to fake something so personal, to prey on Tony’s emotions like that. 

Loki laughs, and Tony almost believes it. “Yes, even Odin wouldn’t dare to execute Thor’s new Shield-brother's soulmate. What could I possibly have to lose?” 

Tony wakes up suddenly. He stares around his familiar bedroom, lit only by the blue of his arc reactor, trying to get his bearings. That was definitely the weirdest dream he had ever had. He was almost certain that the Loki of his dream had been the genuine one. There was no way even his screwed-up imagination came up with all that. 

What could I possibly have to lose? 

Loki’s last words stuck in his brain. They were logical. If you were going to die tomorrow, you’d try everything, right? Anything. What could it hurt? The problem was with how Loki had chosen to spend his time; which was talking with Tony. And if the goal was to stop his execution with this soulmate bit, why waste his time convincing Tony when there was no way that Tony could possibly contact Asgard and get the trial halted by tomorrow? Shit. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so glad I had this little fic prepped! I haven't been able to get any writing done all week with quarter end craziness at work.

“You ok, Tony? You seem kind of distracted.” 

“Just thinking, you know… randomly, about... soulmates?” Tony starts, honestly not sure why he was suddenly ready to spill. It’s only been a little over a week since he even met Bruce. But maybe it was the lack of sleep, since he hadn’t slept since that dream going on three days ago, but Tony just felt like he needed to unload everything that was building up inside and he couldn’t think of anyone to do it to other than Bruce. 

“Soulmates?” Bruce questions, frowning at him. 

“Yeah, that’s not a touchy subject for you, is it? You and Betty...?” Tony trails off as he realizes just how uncomfortable this conversation could get. 

“No. It doesn’t mean I care about her any less, of course. But, no we weren’t soulmates. I haven’t found mine.” Bruce doesn’t add the ‘yet’ to the end, but it’s implied. 

About 95% of people find their soulmates, again one of those fate things. Those that don’t, well jury’s out as to whether they are incompatible or if something happened to theirs before they could meet, which would mess with the fate thing. Really, Tony hates all this crap. He wishes that means that he doesn’t still hope. 

Before Afghanistan, Tony had been known as a bit of a slut. Ok, a really big slut. And yeah, Tony liked sex, loved it even, but he was a scientist as well. If the only way you can find your soulmate is to touch them for at least five seconds, he had no idea why five seconds, it was some time needed for the bond to form mumbo jumbo thing. Regardless, the more people you touched like that, the quicker you could find your soulmate. And when that long of a touch is pretty intimate, well you may as well have sex while you were at it. 

“Is this about Pepper?” Bruce asks, bringing Tony out of his daze. 

“What? Oh, no.” Tony says. Not that the whole Pepper situation isn’t related. He would have never considered actually dating someone before Afghanistan; it was all about enjoying himself and finding his mark. Why bother putting the work into a relationship that wasn’t with your soulmate? 

Pepper’s approach had been to get good practice in before meeting her soulmate. She also seemed to enjoy her relationships, so Tony hadn’t really questioned it. Then, when he realized that he didn’t have a soulmate and Pepper was interested. Well, why not get at least one good relationship in before death? Of course, life is a dick of massive proportions always wanting to bend Tony over one more time. They had only been a few months into their relationship before Pepper found her mate, and Tony was alone again. He doesn’t have the drive to seek out a relationship and doesn’t have the energy, or the trust, for one night stands. Alone. He really needs to get used to that. It always happens eventually. 

Resignation. That was the state of being Tony had been fighting for since Afghanistan. He had gone through the whole Five Stages of Grief deal with this whole soulmate revelation. He had mostly had Pepper along with him, but part of him knew that Acceptance was never going to happen. So, he had hovered in a state of depression that he had really hoped had become resignation. Then Loki happened...

“Ah, so this is about...” Bruce trails off and tapped his chest right about where the arc reactor was, a very poignant spot. 

“Stop being so damn smart; that’s my job.” Tony grumbles. 

“Mine as well.” Bruce reminds him. “I assume if you’d already met your soulmate even I would have heard about it somewhere.” 

Tony huffs. “Yeah, hasn’t happened.” 

“And you think because your reactor’s where the mark would be, it can’t happen. You think you’re a Five-percenter.” 

“Yeah, I mean. Say I did have a soulmate. Even if I met them, how would I know?” 

“Well, it’s possible you might still feel the mark forming, even if there’s no skin for it to go on. It’s not anything I’ve ever really looked into, but this can’t be the first time in history it’s come up.” 

“If it’s come up before, no one’s talking. The mark forms on scar-tissue, on anything of your own body that still exists in that area. As it turns out, it’s pretty damn rare that people missing that chunk of their chest are actually alive to meet their soulmates, if they haven’t before the craziness. As far as I can tell, I’m one of a kind.” Tony tips his drink to Bruce in a salute. It’s just a water bottle, but it feels apropos anyways. Good job Tony, play your part well. 

“Ok, so you can’t feel it. But if you were to meet your soulmate, nothing is keeping them from feeling it, right? You’d know pretty darn quickly if you touched them and they grabbed their chest.” Bruce posits. 

Tony has a flash of memory of Loki clutching his chest. That whirl of emotions that ran across the god’s face. Liar, he reminds himself.  _ God _ of Liars. But damn, could Loki even be that good of a liar? There hadn’t been even the slightest slip up, not even a hint of a suspicious expression.

“So, what if, for some reason, I can’t think of a specific situation at the moment, you can’t trust that the person isn’t lying?” 

“Why would anyone lie about that? What would they accomplish?” Bruce asks, frowning as if he can’t even imagine someone doing that. Tony can, if it led to someone escaping prison with possible execution. Except for the fact where he can’t logic out how it actually could lead to that at this point. Tony wills away the queasiness that once again hits him at that thought. It had been days, Loki could be dead already; why was that such an uncomfortable thought?

“The life of a billionaire, genius, playboy philanthropist is not all tits and champagne, Brucie. People want things and they’ll sometimes go to incredible lengths to get them.” Like pretend they have anything but the upmost disdain for puny mortals. Ugh, Loki may as well be his soulmate for as much as the guy is on Tony’s mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, no Loki this chapter, just Tony working through all of the thoughts. We'll see how this goes for them next chapter...


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, let's take another stab at these two talking shall we?

That night, when he can’t manage to keep himself up any longer, Tony dreams of himself in an unfamiliar room. It’s mostly white, with three walls and a see-through glowing barrier instead of a forth. It’s nicely, if sparsely, furnished though. A bed, a chair and footstool, a little table and a washstand, all gilded, are spread across the space in an attempt to make it look homey. In one of the corners of the room is a stack of books. Finally, after a full turn around, Tony spies the other occupant.

“Oh thank god!” Tony breathes.

“Not me, surely?” Loki says with a slight smirk. It takes Tony longer than he likes to work that play on words out.

“No… I mean, yes… I mean… I’m glad you aren’t dead.” Tony stumbles over the words. Loki just raises an eyebrow. “I don’t have to like you to not want you dead!”

“I suppose not,” Loki acknowledges, walking to sit on the bed, stretching his legs out to the ground and crossing his ankles casually.

“I must not be alone in that… because, hey! Here you are!”

“Does Midgard’s justice system manage to go from trial to execution so quickly? Hmmm… maybe I misjudged you,” Loki muses wryly.

“Ah… I see your point. So… you… were...?”

“Sentenced to an eternity of solitary confinement.” Loki finally lets Tony off the hook and finishes the statement. 

Honestly, Tony isn’t entirely sure that’s much better than death. If he was given the choice between the two… yeah, he didn’t really want to make that decision. 

“So, that’s… good?” Ugh, Tony has no idea what to say. Nothing is good; everything sucks, and he just needs to not be having the conversation anymore.

“I believe it was just because I requested death.” Loki says, examining his fingernails. “Well, apparently Frigga also requested it, but I’m sure she would have gotten over it.”

“You requested it? Really? Last time we spoke you didn’t seem so keen.” Tony argues.

“But it’s my birthright,” Loki snarls. Something tells Tony that he’s quoting, and if that is the case, damn is that some fucked up shit. Still, Tony has no idea what to say to something like that.

“It wasn’t that,” Loki says after a moment to calm himself. At Tony’s suspicious look, he continues. “No, truly, I wasn’t dreading the sentence; I was dreading the talk with Odin. But you helped me with that.”

“I did?” Tony tries to think back to their conversation, but he can’t remember anything particularly helpful he said.

“Of course.” Loki smiles sweetly. Tony doesn’t trust it for an instant. “You convinced me that it was pointless to argue my case before Odin, that he would never believe me anyways. So I didn’t. I gave him what he wanted. He, like he has my entire life, gave me the last thing I wanted.”

“Do you have a death wish?” Tony blurts, incredibly uncomfortable with the thought that Loki would just give up like that. He’s been in a few situations, Afghanistan being the one that springs most to mind, where he had to fight against thoughts of giving up entirely or ending it quickly. He hates the thought that he could inspire that in others.

“Did Thor tell you nothing?” Loki asks then, showing the first sign of feeling since the dream started. Sure, it was frustration, but it was something. 

“You’re adopted? And… you’re jealous?” Tony says hesitantly, knowing this wont go over well.

Sure enough, Loki’s eyes flash. “That oaf! Jealous! Of course, he would!”

Loki visibly stills, clenching his fists but trying to control the rest of his body. He closes his eyes briefly and his breathing slows. When he opens his eyes again, he appears to be under control. Tony isn’t any less uneasy.

“I tried to prove that my brother wasn’t fit to be king. On that task I succeeded, but I learned of my ‘adoption’. It was a complicated series of events after that, I’m sure Thor will explain it to you eventually. Then again, he’ll probably muck it up, but by then it won't matter. Everything that happened after showed me that I would never win Asgard’s approval. So, when I found myself hanging from the edge of the bifrost... I let go. It was a wonderfully freeing experience actually, until…” 

Loki trails off, looking over at the barrier and yet at nothing at all. His face is dark, as if contemplating past horrors. Tony’s pretty familiar with that face. He’s seen it far too often in the bathroom mirror, washing his face after a bad nightmare. This is not what he signed up for. Deflect, deflect, deflect!

“Then you met the Chitari and bonded over plans of world domination, right? Fun times.” Tony grins, but there isn’t a hint of amusement behind it. 

Loki flinches. Tony’s a bit surprised by how extreme his reaction to that is. He feels like he kicked a puppy. He raises a hand to press on his chest where his heart clenches. Loki, the sly fucker, doesn’t miss the motion. His eyes zoom into the spot before raising to meet his own, narrow with suspicion. 

“Don’t worry, Stark. You’ve no need to waste your sympathy on me. I’ve more than earned everything I’ve received. And you don’t have to worry for yourself, either. Since you aren’t experiencing any negative effects of the bond yet, it’s likely you never will. The only thing that might be dramatic enough to change that will be my death, and that will happen long after you are gone, I am sure.”

“People can die in solitary confinement,” Tony hears himself say.

Loki frowns at him, cocking his head in an innocently puzzled gesture that feels oddly familiar.

“Yeah, I mean, the psychological damage is pretty obvious, people go crazy from the lack of interaction and touch starvation. They may even fade away mentally, but more often they hurt themselves or worse...” Tony feels a light trill of fear at his own words. Based on the earlier confession Loki just made, Tony’s not sure he wants to give Loki more ideas.

“Well, that is mortals, and likely still far ahead yet even if that were the case.” Loki smiles blandly. “Fear not, I have even figured out a way to block these dreams, so your curse is near an end.” 

“Wait, seriously? You can do that?” Tony blurts.

“While, despite what you think, I cannot project my magic outside of this prison, my magic has not been taken from me.” Loki holds up his wrists, free from any manacles, as evidence. “I believe I have determined how to block my dreams so that we will no longer mingle. Perhaps then you’ll believe me, not that it will matter.” Loki says, huffing a small laugh and turning to face completely away.

Tony really isn’t sure what to say at that. He was already starting to believe Loki, mostly because he could see no profit in it for the trickster. But something held his tongue. What was the point anyways? Like Loki said, there was obviously something broken in their bond if neither of them had experienced any negative side effects from being this far apart for this long. So it would just be better for them to part ways for good, right? It’s not like he hadn’t already resigned himself to no soulmate, this was the same thing really, in the end.

Tony is certain that the lifetime solitary confinement sentence isn’t going to stick. Odin’s anger will fade or Frigga and Thor will talk him into a less harsh punishment. Loki will serve his time and then… well Tony’s not sure, but he’ll probably be long dead by then anyways so it won't be his problem. So, yeah, good. This is very good. 

“Well, cool. Awesome. I guess this is goodbye then?” Tony asks awkwardly, feeling oddly unhappy with the turn of this conversation.

Loki turns around at that, face utterly composed. His lips curve up in the barest of smiles. “Yes, goodbye Mr. Stark… Good luck with the hero business. Stay safe.”

That almost seemed… genuine. Tony shakes off the weirdness of that thought. “Yeah, bye Loki. Good luck with the whole trying not to be evil anymore thing. Drop me a line through Thor, let me know how it goes.” Tony said lightly. 

And just like that, Tony wakes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, that really isn't much better, is it?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the big one guys... strap in!

Tony gets to have real dreams for a while. It’s nice. There’s the usual: showing up to the office naked, but he kind of likes those; JARVIS takes over the world, also not the worst thing that could happen; back together with Pepper, awkward. Then there are the dreams that make him actually miss Loki. There’s Afghanistan, of course, Tony’s fairly sure those dreams will never truly leave him. But those are almost comfortable in their familiarity at this point. No, it’s the dreams where he is on the other side of that portal, falling, floating forever until he wakes up gasping for breath, chest tight, heart racing and he thinks he’s dying; those are the ones that he dreads the most. But the best nights are those where he doesn’t dream at all, or doesn’t remember the dreams anyway. 

Loki must really have a handle on the dream blocking thing. Weeks go by and there’s not a single peep. There’s work, reconstruction, hero’ing, but no Thor, no Loki, nothing otherworldly. It gets to where there are whole days that Tony goes without thinking about the God of Mischief. That is, if you ignore that tension that has taken root in his chest, that he is absolutely certain has nothing to do with Loki. It’s pure coincidence that it started happening the day after their dream-sharing stopped. 

It’s a tightness that’s centered on his chest, obviously arc reactor related. Some days it’s hard to breathe, well, harder even than it has been since Afghanistan. Tony has this weird compulsion to eat; something that he’s not sure he’s ever had before. Drink? Certainly? Ingest other chemical compounds that are not nearly as filling but far more fun? Well, not for a while but he can vividly remember that feeling. But eat? Actual food? Weird. But with all the oddities, Tony at least can be reasonably certain this has nothing to do with being parted from a Soulmate. Because, yeah, as it turns out, if you don’t finish that whole acceptance part of the stages of grief, it’s ridiculously easy to slip right back into denial.

Yet, the doctors, yeah he ends up going to five of them the whole thing is that frustrating, seem to disagree. Tony Stark actually voluntarily seeing a doctor; Pepper almost died of shock herself at that. Four of them say it’s classic parting behavior. Chest tension from the stress of parting and impulsive desire to eat to fill the emptiness in the place that your soulmate is supposed to inhabit. 

Only the last one doesn’t peg it as a soulbond separation side effect. He thinks it’s related to the arc reactor putting a strain on Tony’s chest. So, Tony does the responsible thing, he works through a procedure with the best surgeon in the country and figures out how to get the shrapnel, and therefore the reactor, out of his chest. Tony wonders, theoretically, since they will be growing his own skin over the re-built sternum would the soulmark appear?

Then, of course, a terrorist called the Mandarin, who isn’t actually anyone real but a front for Killian and AIM, shows up and Tony’s life goes to hell for a while. He saves the day, of course, with absolutely no help from Captain America or SHIELD. No, instead he gets a mouthy kid and a Dora the Explorer watch. Ok, yeah, Tony would take the kid anyday over Capsicle. But, in the course of the craziness that is Tony’s life, he has to reschedule the surgery. 

On the night before he would finally be getting the damned arc reactor out of his chest, assuming the world didn’t decide to end in the next few hours, Tony thinks about Loki for the first time in weeks. It has been six months since their last dream. He wonders how long it feels like for the god; they live so damn much longer. Days maybe, hours even? Probably not nearly long enough to miss Tony, not that he would. He wonders if Loki feels that tightness in his chest too; that need to fill the void. He certainly hopes not. He would hate to have to go through open-heart surgery for nothing. 

When Tony dreams, it’s not quite the floating in space dream. It’s close; the surrounding darkness looks right. Stars and gas and just emptiness forever. But he’s standing on a flat surface. Tony looks around; he appears to be on some sort of meteor. There’s no atmosphere that he can glean. No plants or animals or anything but bare rock. 

Tony hears a strangled cry. It appears to come from the other side of a jutting rock to his right. Without thinking, Tony hurries to find the source. There appears to be only one person with Tony on this lifeless meteor. They are pale, naked, but for the chains around their arms and legs, huddled on the ground, shaking, face hidden behind a curtain of black hair. Tony’s heart stops. He doesn’t know why he knows, but he does.

“Loki?” Tony asks and the miserable figure looks up and makes eye contact with him briefly before letting out a small sob and collapsing down again. 

Tony takes a step forward, before pausing again. What the hell is he supposed to do here? This is a nightmare, obviously. But is it a shared one like before? And if so, why now? Or is this just some manifestation of Tony’s worries due to the surgery tomorrow? Tony doesn’t know what he’s supposed to  _ do _ . Mostly he just wants Loki to snap out of it, dream or no. He’ll take the previous arguing and definitely the ignoring over this any day. 

Suddenly, Loki heaves himself forward as far as he can until the chained cuffs wrench his shoulders and he can’t move any more. He snarls, but not at Tony, at the empty space to his right. All Tony can see in that direction are these weird rocky stairs, spiralling into the dark distance. 

“Moved on to the psychological tortures have we?” Loki mocks. “Time to punish me with the image of my soulmate?”

Loki laughs roughly and Tony’s eyes drop once again to Loki’s bare chest, the mark that Tony still hasn’t seen in person, but suspects may actually be there, noticeably absent. If this is Loki’s dream, it likely takes place before Loki showed up on Earth. Not good. 

“A clever tactic; So what will it be? Maybe he’ll tempt me with soft words of love. Beg me to return to him? Tell me how he misses me; how he aches for me as I do for him.” Loki snorts. “You can’t trick me into hope. He despises me; he will never want me; he refuses to even believe we are bonded.”

Tony’s stomach dips at those words. Loki’s not looking at him, still yelling into the empty void, but Tony can see his face clearly. Despite the absolutely wrenching words, Loki is perfectly calm, as if he is speaking some universal truth that none could doubt. It makes it so much worse somehow.

“Or maybe you will take what I wish for most and try to cut me down? Have him snarl ugly words of hate? But there’s nothing you could have him say that could be worse than what he  _ has _ said to me, that he wouldn’t say to my face if he had the chance. You can’t hurt me with the truth.” 

Loki’s face is still cold and detached, but his voice falters at the last sentence, croaking over the syllables. Tony knows, as he is sure Loki does as well, that the last bit was a lie, possibly one of the biggest Loki has ever told. Nothing hurts more than the truth, and Tony was sick to think that it really was the truth. 

“Loki… I’m… this isn’t…” Tony doesn’t really know what to say. What could possibly break the hold that this nightmare seems to have on him? “I’m sorry.”

At those words, Loki’s eyes meet his and widen in shock. He shakes his head, obviously not wanting to believe that this isn’t entirely his own dream, that maybe Tony’s actually here. Tony can relate to that well enough. He would hate for anyone to see his own weakness like this. Their surroundings start to waver; they shimmer and undulate like he’s seeing everything through rising hot air. 

“No! Stop!” Loki shouts at nothing. 

Tony frowns at him. The chains fade away and Loki is suddenly clothed again. But his eyes are wide and panicked as everything blends into the cell that Tony remembers from the last dream. Tony knew the cell had to get bad after a while, but it certainly couldn’t be worse than wherever they had been, right? But the way Loki collapses into himself, the way his arms move to cover his head, to close him off from the world indicates that to Loki, it very much is.

That’s when Tony gets a good look at their surroundings. Yes, it’s the same cell, the same furniture, but it’s absolutely destroyed. There’s broken furniture and glass everywhere. Books and fruit are strewn about. Loki’s feet are stained red, in fact there are red spots and streaks all over the ground, but Tony can’t quite tell if it’s blood or juice from the red fruit. What the hell happened? Had Loki gone completely crazy… again?

Tony startles as Loki jumps to his feet, snarling in rage, but once again, not at Tony.

“Come back you cowards! Come and get me! You promised! You told me I would long for something as sweet as pain, well here I am, begging for it.” Loki shouts before falling back to his knees, all signs of energy drained in an instant. Loki lets out one sob and Tony’s chest aches in sympathetic pain. The next words come out broken, quiet. “Please, punish me. I deserve it.”

Instantly, Tony drops to Loki’s side and puts a hand on the god’s shoulder. Loki startles, looking into Tony’s eyes. His are still green, but they’re as wild as Tony remembers them from Loki’s attack. The god is definitely not all there. 

“Stark?” Loki asks, voice rough.

“Yeah, it’s me. What happened? Why am I here?” Tony asks; the questions are simple and direct, but he hopes they are slightly softened by his hand rubbing on Loki’s shoulder.

Loki looks around the room as if he’s seeing it for the first time. Maybe he’s just considering the fact that Tony’s seeing it. Then, he laughs. It’s not a nice laugh; it sends shivers up Tony’s spine. Something is very, very wrong here. 

“My apologies, I must have let the block slip; I was distracted,” Loki says, shrugging.

“Fuck that, you know that wasn’t what I was asking about.” 

“Oh, yes, the mess. I wasn’t exactly expecting guests.” Loki shrugs. 

“Loki…” Tony manages through clenched teeth. He doesn’t think any of this is intentional, but it’s so damn frustrating not to get a straight answer. “What happened to you?”

“The queen died,” Loki says dully.

Shit. “Your mom?”

Loki just nods, something broken in his eyes. 

“Damn, I’m sorry. How did that happen?” Tony asks, as softly as he can. He knows well enough that it’s really difficult to kill these guys, what could have happened here on Asgard?

“That’s all the guard told me; ‘The queen has been killed.’ They couldn’t even tell me themselves.” Loki sobs again before he clears his throat to speak. “There was a prison break, but I don’t know what actually happened.” 

That was seriously fucked up. All Thor’s talk about ‘he’s still my brother’ and he couldn’t even tell Loki what happened himself. Damn it, Tony is not the right person for this. He can’t be the one to pull Loki together; he just can’t. But he has no way he knows to get in contact with Thor to chew the guy out. 

So, Tony kneels down and sits next to Loki on the ground. It’s not particularly comfortable, but hey, it’s not like he’ll be sore in the morning or anything, this isn’t his real body. He has a strong feeling that Loki isn’t big on being touched, but Tony is just a touchy kind of person. He works with his hands; he’s tactile. And god knows he doesn’t have the right words for this shit, so he just lightly moves his hand from one shoulder to the opposite, pulling Loki into a half hug. 

Loki flinches, but he doesn’t push Tony away; in fact, he immediately relaxes. Tony takes that as permission and starts to rub Loki’s shoulder again, humming a bit. It’s the closest he’s ever been to Loki, and Tony can’t help but glance at the god’s chest. It’s covered, the v of the neck dipping teasingly to just a bit above where the mark would be, but Tony’s almost sure it’s there. Almost wants to ask Loki to show him. But Loki takes a few deep breaths and Tony finds himself relaxing as well in the quiet moment; not wanting any words to disturb it. It’s kind of nice, actually. Just being here without arguing with one another. Of course, Loki can’t let that be for more than a minute.

The god growls and pulls away from Tony, getting to his feet. Tony just sighs and slowly works his way to his feet as well. He was hoping they could do this without another blow up, but that is apparently too much to ask.

“Don’t you dare pity me. I don’t want it, and I certainly don’t deserve it!” Loki snarls. “Would you like to know the last thing I said to her? Hmmm? As she was defying Odin’s orders and visiting me; so I wouldn’t be alone. So that maybe I could recover something of myself and not delve deeper into madness. I told her she wasn’t my mother. I broke her heart and then sent her off to die where I couldn’t protect her. So, please, save your feelings for someone who deserves them.”

Tony opens his mouth to call bullshit; to tell Loki he isn’t the only person who’s ever lost someone, who’s ever regretted the last words they spoke to them. But instead, he’s waking up in his own bed. Tony looks over at the clock and groans. It’s 2am and he knows there is no way he is getting back to sleep. Loki must have gotten enough of a hold of himself to realize he knew how to block Tony out. Great, just great. 

After so much time without seeing Loki, with barely letting himself think about Loki, Tony could never have prepared himself for what happened. Sure, yeah, there was definitely pity there, along with sympathy, with empathy, because Tony’s been right there where Loki was. Tony isn’t a robot, despite his best efforts, he’s perfectly fine with feeling those things, even for a villain, but there had been so much more than that. There hadn’t been a single trace of the anger that had practically consumed Tony when first dealing with Loki. It had bled into understanding and regret. It was like, for all that time Tony forced himself not to think about Loki, there was a subroutine working in the background of his brain, processing his emotions and coming up with… well Tony wasn’t quite sure, but it wasn’t bad, wasn’t negative. It was... warm was the best word he could think of to describe it; something akin to hope. 

Tony hauls himself out of bed to walk over to the bar. It’s fine; he knows what he needs to do now. He needs to start on a way to contact Asgard. He’s got Bruce around, they can probably figure it out over the course of a long weekend. It’ll be fine. Loki’s in prison; it’s not like he’s going anywhere. Tony just about has the glass of scotch to his lips before he remembers he has surgery tomorrow and can’t drink. Scowling, Tony tosses the liquid into the sink and puts the glass down. Might as well get started on that communication device now. 


	7. Chapter 7

The surgery goes off without a hitch, not that Tony was worried or anything. And if it didn’t fix the ache in his chest... well, he wouldn’t know on account of the awesome drugs he’s on. Pepper brings him home from the hospital and proceeds to smother him in unnecessary amounts of doting. It’s kind of nice… for about ten minutes. As it turns out, ten minutes of Pepper doting is apparently enough to make up for almost forty years of the lack. Kudos to Pepper on the efficiency. His thankfulness doesn’t keep Tony from messaging Bruce begging the guy to save him from the CEO who gives 112% to anything she sets her mind to, which is, at the moment, mother-henning worse than Jarvis ever had, or JARVIS ever has. 

Amazing science bro that he is, Bruce shows up on Tony’s floor less than a half hour later. He waves his MDs around a bit, which is enough to get Pepper to agree to leave Tony in his care. They watch something on TV, Tony’s not quite sure, he’s flying a bit high at this point. Bruce isn’t hovering like Pepper, but he’s still far too responsible to let Tony do what he actually wants to do, which is go back to working on that communication device. Sure, it’s only technically been a few hours since that crazy nightmare, but Tony just has this really bad feeling. 

It’s so cliche that he’d never admit it to anyone, especially not Bruce, but a heavy tide of dread has been on him since waking up. But... he knows it’s fine; Loki’s fine. Not that he’s personally invested, except in all of the ways that he definitely is. It’s not like Loki’s going through some serious grief; then again, people lose their parents all the time. It’s the way of the world, the circle of life. Hell, Loki got about a thousand years more with his mom than Tony ever got. It’s not like Loki’s completely isolated with no one to care about him and a history of suicidal behavior. Shit, Tony really needed to get that communication device working. Ok, time to pull out the big guns.

“Hey, want something from the kitchen? I’m getting a snack.” Tony says casually, getting off the couch without a single wince.

“What? No, Tony. Stay here. I’ll get something for you.” Bruce shot off the couch.

“Relax, Brucie. I’m totally fine! See? I can take one step in front of…” Tony trailed off with a grunt as a sharp pain shoots through his gut. Tony collapses to his knees and vaguely processes that Bruce does the same beside him. The majority of Tony’s concentration is focused on the feeling like a giant blade just ripped through his gut. 

“Loki,” Tony manages to gasp before the pain overwhelms him and all that is left in his brain is white hot agony. 

“What? Tony are you ok? What are you talking about?” Bruce asks frantically.

The pain is starting to recede, and Tony can’t help but think that is a bad thing. He’s finally able to catch his breath, and he lets Bruce wrestle him back to the couch. Tony clutches at his chest, right over the bandage feeling like something’s missing. Of course, the arc reactor is gone. That should be what he feels, but he knows it’s not. He doesn’t even realize that he’s blinking away tears until Bruce asks what happened. 

“I think Loki just died.” Tony responds. No point in hiding anything now, right?

“What? How would you know that?” Bruce asks, stunned. Tony looks over and he can just see that quick brain working. Dark eyes looking around the room and at nothing at all; likely recalling an early conversation he and Tony had. “He’s your soulmate, isn’t he?”

“I think so, yeah. Couldn’t be sure.” Tony taps his chest lightly. “He’s kind of the God of Lies too, so you know, not exactly a reliable source, but the whole dreamsharing thing kind of was hard to argue with, not that I didn’t do it anyways.”

“But Tony, we don’t even know the extent of what he can do; his magic…”

“Trust me, I’ve been through it all. Tried every excuse I could think of to refute it. But I don’t think it’s a lie. I really don’t think he would magically stab me in the gut just to sell it. After last night…”

“What happened last night?” Bruce asks.

“I don’t really want to talk about it.” Tony sighs and leans back into the couch, closing his eyes. 

Just like that, Loki’s gone. Tony’s not really sure what to feel. Regret is pretty high on the list; frustration is a pretty solid bet; then there’s the tinge of relief that is followed by a wave of guilt. Tony wonders what happened. Was he actually stabbed? Or was that just what everyone felt when their soulmate died? Did Loki finally get what he wanted not so long ago when he let go? What was Tony supposed to do now? Why didn’t he know when effectively nothing has changed, for him at least?

“I’m sorry,” Bruce just says then. Tony feels the doctor lean back on the couch next to him, a soothing weight and heat close by. 

“Yeah, me too.” Tony just says, drifting off in a haze of what-ifs.

“Tony,” Bruce says loudly, waking Tony from his nap. 

“What?” Tony groans, sitting up and stretching. He was way too old to be falling asleep on the couch. Tony rubs at his chest. The tightness is back. Tony hadn’t expected it to be, what with his soulmate dead and all, but death was kind of the biggest separation of them all, right? Maybe he was going to feel this for the rest of his life. It could be worse. He’d heard a lot worse about people who had lost their soulmates. 

“Something’s happening in London. Thor’s there.” Bruce says, gesturing to the TV. 

Tony has JARVIS contact SHIELD. Nat, Clint and Steve are all ‘busy’ and Fury isn’t answering his calls. Stupid secret government agency. What’s the point of them? So, like the rest of the world, like average joes, Tony and Bruce watch as Thor causes massive amounts of property damage, but he ‘seems to beat the pale, pointy eared baddy and all the weird dimensional bubbles stop. Yeah, Tony is really itching to figure out what’s going on there. Maybe he needs to get in touch with Dr. Foster. 

“What are the odds that Thor checks in with us?” Bruce asks Tony. 

The news people are apparently holed up in a nearby building. Tony and Bruce have a nice view of a very beaten up Thor laying on the ground with Dr. Foster clutching him. 

“Not looking good.” Tony snorts. 

Tony’s not entirely sure he’s ready to talk to Thor anyways. He doesn’t want to hear what happened to Loki. Worse, he doesn’t want any indication of how little Thor might actually care. Tony will never forget that devastated look as Loki told him that the had to find out about his mom from a fucking guard. Yeah, if Thor didn’t even know Loki was gone… Tony might just lose it. 

“I have to go work on a communication device. Contact Asgard.” Tony says, getting up again and stretching. 

“Why do you need to contact Asgard? Why do you need to do it now?” Bruce asks, but he’s not fighting Tony this time. He’s just hovering, arms outstretched like he’s going to need to catch Tony at any second.

“I need to find out what happened to Loki. And if I can’t rely on Point Break, I’m going to figure it out myself.” 

“Yes, but do you have to do that now? You just had open heart surgery!” Bruce protests.

“And I’m fine!” Tony insists, walking over to the elevator.

“Wait, you are fine,” Bruce says, eyes narrowed at Tony’s suspiciously sturdy gait. Uh oh. Busted.

“That’s what I said,” Tony deflected.

“Yes, but you shouldn’t be.”

“I’m Tony Stark, what can I say?”

“Tony…”

“Brucie…” Two could play at that game.

“What. Did. You. Do?” Bruce asks, pausing after each word. Damn, he was serious.

“Well… I may have dabbled a bit with Extremis.” Tony starts, wincing at the inevitable blow up that was going to start. 

Sure enough, Bruce is starting to look a little green around the gills, pun intended, but pun definitely not spoken out loud, because Tony does not have a death wish. 

“What were you thinking? How could you mess with something like that? And test it on yourself? Of all the arrogant, reckless, idiotic…”

“Look, it’s not as bad as it sounds. We mostly got the whole thing figured out when we cured Pepper, right? I toned it way down and gave myself the barest bit. Just enough to speed up the healing. No fiery balls of death, no long term effects, just making sure I’m not laid up by this surgery forever.” Tony argues.

Bruce takes a deep, calming breath and Tony knows he’ll get his way. He saves the happy dance for later, though. He can’t imagine it will help. 

“Ok, we’re going down to  _ my  _ lab to get you checked out. I need to make sure you aren’t going to blow yourself up.” 

Bruce gets in the elevator and presses the button for his floor.

“But… communication device…” Tony whines.

“You can work on that once I determine that you are safe… or as safe as Tony Stark ever gets.”

Tony snorts, but he can’t really argue with that. 


	8. Chapter 8

Once Bruce has Tony in his lair and still in his vile clutches, the doctor performs all kinds of evil experiments. He draws several vials of blood first and gets those cooking while he performs blood pressure tests, reflex tests and all other forms of poking and prodding. Tony, for his part, bears it with all the grace of a grumpy two year old. 

His thoughts were swirling with ideas about interstellar communication. His fingers were twitching with the repressed desire to start typing out formulas and developing prototypes. His chest ached for… Loki. Damn it. 

As if it wasn’t bad enough that the god had gotten his curiosity and his pity. He just had to go and develop some actual feelings on top of that. Add that to the pain in his chest and Tony really wasn’t looking forward to the next few years. 

“By all accounts, you are perfectly healthy. I can’t even find a trace of Extremis in your system so either it is that small of an amount or it’s already worked its course.” Bruce announces.

Tony nods, only paying half attention, his brain on light wave calculations. Bruce is only telling Tony what he already knows. He doesn’t get his math wrong; he’s Tony Stark. He doesn’t say that aloud, of course, because then JARVIS would feel obligated to argue, and Tony hated having to tell his creation that he is wrong.

“The last thing to confirm would be to take off the bandages; see if you are fully healed yet.” Bruce prods. 

“Mmm hmmm,” Tony says, and waves negligently for Bruce to get on with it. 

It isn’t until Bruce starts peeling away the tape that Tony processes what he was saying. He quickly grabs Bruce’s wrist so that the bandage isn’t pulled completely away yet. 

“It’s probably going to be there, huh?” Tony asks. 

“Your soulmark? Yeah, if Loki was telling the truth. It is your own skin there now,” Bruce confirms.

Tony swallows. “And it will be black.”

“That’s what happens when a soulmate dies, so yes? I don’t know Tony. This isn’t exactly a textbook scenario.”

“I’m not ready,” Tony admits, feeling ridiculously childish. 

Bruce pulls his hand away immediately. “Then we’ll check on it later. I’ve verified enough that I’m comfortable with you working in your lab, with my supervision, of course.”

God, Tony doesn’t deserve Bruce. No probing questions, no awkward discussions about feelings, he just took what Tony said and then moved on. It would be so easy to just leave that bandage on, remain in this Schrodinger’s cat scenario of soulmate/no soulmate. But while Tony is a lot of things, he is not a coward. 

Tony’s hand comes back up to his chest and he tears away the bandage in one swift move. It pulls out some chest hairs, bringing tears to his eyes. It’s probably for the best, he has an excuse later if… Tony really isn’t ready to consider the ‘if’ but it was right there. All he needs to do is look down. 

Instead he looks into Bruce’s eyes. The man is staring at Tony’s chest with slightly parted lips indicating surprise, but that really doesn’t tell Tony anything. Honestly, he’s pretty sure Bruce would be nonplussed no matter what is currently on Tony’s chest, given everything they’ve discussed so far. So, Tony takes a deep breath and looks down. 

The skin on his chest is still new. It’s pinker and paler than the surrounding area, puckered at the edges where it meets the old skin. The doctor said that the new version of Extremis probably wouldn’t clear all the scars, but it definitely had made them look a lot more palatable. In the center of that new skin is the image of a small flame. 

It’s weirdly archaic, the four symbols that soulmarks come in, but then again, they’d been around since humans, as far as anyone could tell, so why wouldn’t they be old fashioned? Soulmarks came in one of the four elemental properties: Earth, Fire, Air and Water. But they could come in the whole wide spectrum of colors. Your mark is always the same element and color as that of your soulmate. They aren’t truly unique, but there are enough possible combinations that, added with the skin contact, you can generally be pretty darn sure of who your soulmate is. In the usual scenarios, at least.

Tony always knew that his mark would be fire. Even given his love of metal, no other element fit him so well. Of course, the mark was more about your relationship with your mate than your own personality, but knowing Loki, knowing how they started, yeah, fire was right. He hadn’t guessed that it would be blue though. A perfect, bright color, almost arc reactor blue. He wondered if the color meant anything to Loki too. 

It took a moment for the details to really hit him. Wait, the mark was blue. How the hell could it be blue?

“Blue?” Tony asks, looking back up at Bruce with wide eyes. 

“Are you sure it’s Loki?” Bruce asks.

Oddly enough, there wasn’t a shred of doubt in his mind anymore. “Yes.”

“Then it looks like he may not be as dead as you thought.” Bruce shrugged with one shoulder, a small smile on his face.

“But then? Was the pain the soulmark forming? Because I’d always heard that was like a burn in your chest. This was very much a stab in the gut.”

“Don’t look at me; no soulmate to speak of.”

So, Loki might be alive; probably was alive. That was… like everything else with Loki, Tony wasn’t sure what he felt, what he should feel. It wasn’t bad though. Actually, Tony was fairly sure he was relieved; which was amusing when you consider how he felt a bit relieved that Loki was dead. Damn, Tony was messed up. 

“Well then, communication device here I come!” Tony says cheerfully, hopping down from the table he had been sitting on while Bruce examined him.

“You still going with that plan?” Bruce asks, following him out of the lab.

“Of course, I am. I have a soulmate to check on.” 

“Tony,” Bruce grabs Tony’s arm to slow down his quick progress to his own floor. “This whole thing, with Loki, just because you are soulmates doesn’t mean that everything is solved. It doesn’t mean he’s a good person. He still killed people; he still deserves to be punished.”

“I know, Bruce. Trust me, I know. But, we don’t know the whole story; there’s far more to it than we’ve been told. And as for punishment, I think that maybe he’s been punished enough for his part, but I’m willing to play ball once he has his chance to tell his side of the story.” 

“But it’s still Loki, I mean, do you even like him?” Bruce asks, obviously not grasping Tony’s sudden change of pace.

“Yeah, he’s still Loki. He’s possibly not a good person, even outside of everything that happened here. But guess what? Neither am I,” Tony growls. Bruce looks like he’s about to protest, but Tony just holds a hand up. “No, I’m being serious. Yes, I’m trying to be better. I’m trying to make up for what I’ve done, be the kind of person who deserves to be an Avenger. And you know what? I’ve seen enough of Loki, the real Loki, to think that he at least deserves a chance at the same. Who knows, maybe I’ll hate him, and he’ll be everything we thought. But I have to give him a shot, Bruce. I can’t just abandon him like everyone else has.”

Bruce sighs; Tony suppresses a smirk. He always knows he’s won when Bruce sighs. 

“I get it. I wish I didn’t get it so well. It’s not like I haven’t…” Bruce sighs again. But he lets go of Tony’s arm and they start walking to the elevator again. “You know that this is going to be an uphill battle right? With Steve? Fury? Everyone?” 

Now it’s Tony’s turn to sigh. Yeah, it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. But some little niggling notion in the back of his brain told him that it was going to be worth it. He really wants to believe it, so he figures he just will, at least until he has reason otherwise. 

“Oh yeah, big fun. I’m going to see if I can’t make Fury completely bust that vein in his forehead that seems to throb whenever we talk,” Tony jokes.

“You might want to try something a little less aggressive, at least at first. But either way, I’ll have your back.” Bruce says softly.

“Awww, I love you too, Brucie-bear!” Tony says, trying to dissipate some of the serious or he might just cry at the touching moment. Honestly, he’s done enough shedding of tears for the day.

Tony and Bruce work on the communication device that has been taking shape in Tony’s head all day. It isn’t quite finished, but Tony’s confident that they’ll be ready for some tests in just a few hours. Unfortunately, healing a hole in your chest takes a good bit out of you because unlike on previous science binges, even coffee can’t seem to keep him up. He’s practically drooling on Bruce’s shoulder by the time the doctor physically removes him from the lab and puts him into bed. 

Just one more night; just a few more hours. Loki could wait just a bit right? Tony has no idea what’s going on up in God-land with that prison-break Loki talked about, the gut stabbing and everything that went down in London. But everything just needs to stay chill for a few hours and then they’d contact Asgard and sort everything out. Then Loki and Tony could really talk, could really see if they could be anything. 

Some unknown amount of time later Tony is startled from sleep. He’s still dead tired and half-formed dreams swirl in his head, so he knows he didn’t wake naturally, but he isn’t sure, at first, what woke him. Then Tony senses the other presence in the room. He knows instantly that it isn’t Bruce. There’s only one person it can be.

“Hey Loki.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just one more mean cliffhanger and then we are done with this bad-boy!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it... our main characters finally speaking (in person) for the first time since the first chapter. Kind of weird actually now that I think of it...

There’s a small intake of breath from the figure in the shadows. It isn’t quite a gasp, something just short of it; whatever you would call it, it’s enough for Tony to confirm that he got it right. 

“How did you know it was me?” Loki asks then, stepping forward so that the bit of light from the windows shows his face clearly enough. He looks better than Tony has ever seen him. Calm, put together, back in his armor, which Tony thinks suits him far better than the lighter clothes he wore in prison. 

“Call it a sixth sense, or, you know, one of those soulmate things.” Tony shrugs. 

“So you believe me now, is that it?” Loki asks then, his voice going harder than it had been before. 

Tony sits up in bed and, as he does, the comforter falls, showing his bare chest. This time Loki really does gasp. He even takes a few steps forward with his hand outstretched a bit. He’s, of course, looking at the blue flame right there in the center. The one that must match his own. 

“What did you do? Where is...?” Loki gestures to his own chest, probably not knowing what to call the arc reactor. 

“I had it removed; it was a bit itchy.” Tony shrugs negligently.

“But it stopped the staff.” 

“It stopped something else too.” Tony counters.

Loki swallows audibly and nods. 

“So, yeah. Tit for tat, Lokes. I’ve shown you mine…” Not that Tony really  _ needs _ the confirmation, but...

Loki frowns at him for a few moments before Tony’s words seem to compute. “Oh... yes.”

Magically, Loki changes from the armor into something closer approaching what he wore in prison. It’s kind of amazing to watch and Tony can’t wait to start figuring out how exactly Loki did it. Tony also can’t help but think it’s a sign of trust. Loki is, literally and hopefully figuratively, taking off his armor, baring himself to Tony. Loki then pulls the tunic, which appears to be some sort of wrap, apart so Tony can see his bare chest. There it is, a flame in the exact same shade of blue as Tony’s. Tony has this odd impulse to feel it. To have it right under his fingers, though he knows it won't be raised skin.

“The flame didn’t surprise me; I’m sure it didn’t surprise you either. But I never expected blue. It does come close to the blue of the reactor, but it’s supposed to represent both of us. What does it mean to you?” 

Loki’s face which had looked so open and hopeful shutters. “A painful truth, that once let loose can never be hidden again.” 

Well that’s ominous, yet poetic. But it’s way too late, or maybe early, who knows what time it is, for Tony to dig into that. 

“Hmmm… we can explore that later. For now, I need more sleep, and I’m sure you could use some too.” Without even thinking, Tony pats the bed next to him. 

Loki’s even more shocked than Tony is. “You really mean for me to sleep here with you?”

The answer is actually that no, Tony hadn’t even really thought about it. But Loki’s shock just solidifies the decision for him. He’s always been contrary that way. 

“Why not? It’s a big bed. Way easier than finding you someplace else to sleep.” Tony shrugs as if it is no big deal.

“I don’t understand. You hate me; how could you possibly trust me in your bed?” 

“I don’t hate you, Loki. I’m not sure I ever did on any sort of personal level. I was angry, yes, and hurt and confused, but I didn’t  _ hate _ you. And if we’re going to give this whole soulmates thing a shot, I’m going to have to trust you. Might as well start now.” And sure, Tony is making it sound a lot easier than it is. Just the idea of the guy that tried to kill him less than a year ago being that close, in the flesh, definitely gets Tony’s heart racing, but they really did have to start somewhere. And Tony really did believe that Loki wouldn’t hurt him.

Loki blinks; he blinks a lot actually, obviously having a hard time processing this. 

“Still, not hating me is a far cry from wanting me in your bed,” Loki continues to argue.

“Come on, Loki! I’m tired; I’m not looking to jump your bones,” Tony moans, but he can’t quite help adding with a smirk, “yet.”

Loki’s eyes go wide and Tony’s fairly sure that for the moment, at least, he’s forgotten how to blink now. This is actually a kind of fun. Tony isn’t blind; when you take out all the reasons why Tony isn’t supposed to like Loki, he’s a very attractive guy. Now that he’s no longer in the whole denial stage, Tony can actually allow himself to acknowledge that, appreciate it even. But despite Tony’s hedonistic nature, even  _ he _ knows that now is not the time. 

After a moment, Loki seems to come back to himself. He ditches the rest of the tunic on the ground and climbs into the bed in just his pants. Loki gets under the covers, but lays so far away from Tony that he couldn’t even reach the man with his arm stretched. Tony rolls his eyes and gestures for Loki to come closer. Much prodding gets Loki about half a foot away. Tony settles in then and closes his eyes. He really is too tired to be nervous or conflicted.

“We still have to talk, Stark.” Loki whispers.

“Talk later, sleep now.” Tony responds. Yes, they did have a lot to talk about. How Loki was even here and what really happened to him before he came to Earth topping the list. But these were all much better topics in the morning after ample amounts of coffee. 

Loki sighs in response, then moves around a bit trying to get comfortable. He settles and Tony starts to drift off. 

“Stark?” Loki asks.

“Yeah, Loki?” Tony yawns.

“Can I… your soulmark, may I feel it?” Loki asks so tentatively it causes something to crack in Tony’s heart. He remembers his own impulse when he saw Loki’s mark, but he thinks there is more to it than just that. 

Touch-starved. A few months in that cave in the desert with no touching other than that necessary for torture had been enough for Tony to be fairly desperate for it when he had gotten back. Of course, he was a pretty touchy-feely kind of guy. But even if, as he suspects, Loki isn’t, he’s had several months in jail and a year of who knows what kind of horrors before that. Knowing all that, Tony’s positive Loki wants more than to just touch Tony’s soulmark, but he’s too afraid to ask.

“Sure,” Tony says softly. 

Slowly and carefully, as if he’s prepared for Tony to rescind his agreement at any moment, Loki reaches forward. Tony holds still; he stops breathing for a moment, afraid even that amount of movement will scare Loki off. Finally, soft, cool fingers alight on the flame on Tony’s chest. Tony’s not sure if Loki realizes that he lets out a pleased hum at the contact, but Tony enjoys it anyways. 

“We could cuddle?” Tony offers after a few moments. Once again, Loki looks at him with surprised confusion. 

“Why…?” Loki starts to ask.

“Something you’ll need to know about me, I’m kind of a tactile guy. I like hugging, putting an arm around a friend’s shoulder and, even without sex, I like cuddling. I enjoy it and you look like you could use it. Am I wrong?” 

Loki just shakes his head ‘no’, looking a little sheepish. 

“Ok, do you want to be big spoon or little spoon?” Tony asks. Loki looks at him like he suddenly started speaking in tongues. Oh yeah, may not translate so well for the alien. “Do you want to be on the outside or inside of the cuddling?”

Loki appears to be wrestling with the answer in his head, which pretty much tells Tony everything he needs to know.

“How can any man possibly say ‘little spoon’ with a straight face?” Loki asks finally. 

Tony chuffs out a laugh; he knew it. “Come here.”

Tony pulls Loki to him so that Loki’s back is to his chest. 

“I didn’t say I wanted…” Loki huffs, but Tony shushes him.

Tony has to practically manhandle Loki into proper little spoon position, but he’s under no illusions that if it wasn’t exactly what Loki wanted, Tony would be dead right now. But the fact that he is protesting and grumbling the whole time makes Tony like him just that little bit more. 

They finally settle into a comfortable position. Tony has his arm around Loki’s chest, with Loki’s arm grabbing his at the wrist. Their legs aren’t quite in line since Loki is far taller, but they are joined at the thighs up through to the neck. Tony’s face is tucked in just where Loki’s neck and shoulders meet. It’s surprisingly comfortable, even with Loki being the taller. His hair smells really nice. Tony’s absolutely positive he could sleep like this for hours. But there is one thing he needs to say first.

“I’m sorry.”

Loki stiffens. “For what?”

And doesn’t that just break Tony’s cracked heart into a million pieces? The fact that Loki doesn’t seem to know all the things Tony should be sorry for.

“For not believing you; for not talking to you before they hauled you off to Asgard; for being an all around stubborn ass.”

Loki relaxes again, all but the hand he has wrapped around Tony’s wrist like a vice. “I likely would have done the same, worse possibly. But if you feel you need my forgiveness, you have it.”

Tony lets out the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding. Suddenly exhausted again, he puts his face right back into Loki’s neck and closes his eyes. 

“Stark?” Loki asks a few minutes later. 

Tony kind of wants to groan; he really just wants to sleep. But Loki’s voice is so soft and tentative that Tony can’t put him off; it would be too cruel.

“Yeah, Bambi?”

Loki ignores the nickname; Tony’s pretty sure that won't always be the case. 

“You still don’t know who I really am. I’m not… I don’t deserve this.” Loki says, voice muffled like he’s buried his face in the pillow, trying to block out any emotion that might come out. 

Tony thinks back to his earlier conversation with Bruce. 

“Everyone deserves a chance at happiness. That’s what soulmates are, right? It’s fate saying ‘here’s your chance’, we just have to try not to mess it up. We know that we can be good together; we can be perfect together, even. Everything else will just figure itself out.” 

Loki does that happy humming thing that Tony’s kind of starting to fall in love with. Then he quiets and his breathing evens out so Tony figures he must have fallen asleep. Tony lets himself drift as well. 

“Thank you... so much.” Loki says quietly, but fervently.

Tony smiles and places a small kiss in Loki’s hair. Yeah, they’ll figure everything out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know we went on a long angst ride here... but I just had to end with fluffy. This is maybe the sappiest scene I've ever written and I'm not the least bit sorry. 
> 
> That being said, I do hope you enjoyed reading the angst and the sappy as much as I have writing it. I love having a Soulmate AU finally under my belt. 
> 
> Now back to Son of Chaos and the as-yet Untitled Part 6 of the Time Stone Series.


End file.
